What is your gift idea for Christmas, would you like something different or unique? Maybe there are some options you know are quite normal such as flowers, greeting cards, clothes, jewelry etc. However, the laest gift idea is photo to painting. Not matter it is a wedding portrait painting, pet painting or even family portraits, all items has a meaning to express. Custom paintings are more unique gift idea, it has more personalized touch to the gift, instead of just simply choose a card or clothes from a store. The idea of custom portrait from photo will definitely get praises.

A great way to transform cherished moments into art which is beautiful stylish and durable. Gifting it would be a worthwhile investment. They make great gifts for any kind of occasion and especially for anniversaries when you can get a photo of your wedding day or honeymoon trip into a beautiful canvas painting and gift him or her.

You can treasure great memories with these photographs, The good thing about getting them done is that, the photograph won’t even lose its originality.

You can choose just any theme and if spent time in research you will come across various elegant decoration that would be eye catching. By gifting photos on canvas you can show your love one the feelings and love you have for her.

“Portrait from photo have gained a high popularity today, we receive over 200 portrait orders each month, which is much better than last year ” Said by Matt, the manager of Paintmyphotos.net. Many companies provide these service online in order to meet customers’s requirements. It is very easy to order online, just send them a photo or upload the photo to their websites and they will get professional portrait artist to turn into a beautiful handmade oil paintings. But please do some homework before ordering, better to find a gallery not only have rich experience in portrait from photo, but also provide the service at reasonable price, find the direct supplier(no middle people) would save your cost a lot.

The ethereal, romantic quality of diffused photographs has long been a favored effect of protrait, wedding, and fashion photographers. With a variety of soft-focus and diffusion effects, the photographer can produce a dreamike aura in the photo that evokes an emotional response in the viewer.

There are many ways to produce a diffused image. Soft-focus lenses and filters, diffusion and fog filters, and a grand assortment of homemade devices such as Vaseline-smeared filters and black mesh mounted in front of the lens have been used by photographers for decades to produce soft images. I’ve experimented with a lot of these devices and techniques over the years but here’s one that you may never have read about. Before I let the cat out of the bag, let me say that it’s variable–you can get a mild or dramatic effect–and it’s beautiful –admirers will think you just sunk 400 or so big ones into a new soft-focus lens. This soft-focus device, however, is free: all you have to do is breathe on your lens.

BUT FIRST . . .

Before you breathe on your expensive lens, make sure you have a glass filter–a normal UV, skylight, or haze filter–on the lens. This will protect it’s delicate multi-coating and prevent moisture from accumulating inside the lens.

The first thing you need to do is practice the technique and become familiar with the effects. If you’re indoors and the temperature is 76|F or less, then you should have no trouble getting your filter to fog up by breathing on it. If it’s above 76|F then you need to cool the filter down as it is close to the temperature of your warm breath. You can cool the filter by placing it over something cold–ice cubes wrapped in aluminum foil, or one of the portable coolants campers often use, like Blue Ice. A can of cold beer will do, but it might distract you from the issue at hand.

Once the filter ring is cold to the touch, re-attach it to the lens and breathe on it. It should then fog up nicely.

SHOOTING

When you first start to use this technique, you may find it easier to mount your camera on a tripod. Focus on your subject, breathe on the filter (or have someone do it for you), and then watch through the camera viewfinder. At first, your vision will be obscured, but within a few seconds, you’ll see a beautiful soft-focus image emerge as the moisture on the filter begins to evaporate.

The beauty of this technique is that you can vary the amount of image diffusion by simply waiting for the right moment to trip the shutter. The longer you wait, the less diffusion you will get. The earlier you shoot, the more diffusion you will get.

Unlike some other soft-focus and diffusion effects, this one is not aperture-dependent. You get the same amount of diffusion regardless of whether you’re stopped down to f/ 11, or opened up to f/2.8. This is significant because with many soft-focus and diffusion effects, the smaller the taking aperture, the less noticeable the effect. A byproduct of this technique is that you can control depth of field more completely than with other soft focus and diffusion techniques.

After you’ve used this technique for a while, you’ll discover that you have to anticipate the exact moment to trip the shutter. If you wait until you see the degree of diffusion you want, and then fire, it may be too late, particularly in the last stages of evaporation. Like an action photographer, be ready to trip the shutter a moment before the diffusion reaches the stage you want.

EXPOSURE TIPS

Any time you breathe on the filter over your lens, you create a layer of condensation that scatters much of the image forming light, reducing the level reaching the film plane. If you apply a really heavy layer of condensation, it will cut the light down by as much as two full f-stops. You must compensate for this light loss if you want to prevent underexposed images. But how much do you compensate, when the condensation is rapidly evaporating, and more and more light is reaching the film plane? The best way to compensate is to leave your camera on automatic and let the camera’s metering system compensate for the gradually changing light level.

If you are using a camera that has no automatic mode, or if you have to use the camera in manual mode for some other reason, use this handy rule of thumb. For the heaviest condensation open up two full stops. For average condensation, open up one stop, and for the last stages of condensation, compensate by opening up 1/2 stop. These recommendations should put you in the ballpark every time.

AH, THE BEAUTY

The diffusion effects you can achieve with this technique are stunning. Continuous tone scenes become studies in pastels as hard colors fade and become muted, and highlights meit into shadows. Practice and experiment with the technique until you master it–after all, it’s just a breath away.

Photo: Fog your filter to get beautiful diffusion effects. Here, the colors are desaturated, the contrast is reduced, and there is a gentle glow around model Linda Moulgrave that gives the photographs a dreamlike feel.

Photo: 1. Diffusion is so intense in this high-key portrait that model Gray Harris seems to be emerging from a dream. There are no hard edges–the outline of her hair and body has been erased by the diffusion.

Photo: 2. There is less diffusion here than in the high-key portrait above. Notice how the diffusion gives a halation to the necklace and earnings and a soft glow to Linda Moulgrave’s skin.

Photo: 3-5. You can control the diffusion in the final shot by observing the effect through the viewfinder and carefully timing your exposure. The sooner you shoot after having fogged the filter, the more pronounced the effect, as in photo No. 3 above. Exposures of model Paulette Groff were made about two seconds apart. In photo No. 4, we see a moderate but pleasing level of diffusion, and in No. 5, the fog has all but totally evaporated. Note that when making a sequence such as this (if, for example, you are unsure of exactly what effect you want in the final result), you may want to keep your camera on automatic to compensate for the change in the amount of moisture on the lens. The more fogged the lens is, the less light reaches the film.

Hair extensions are available everywhere…do a Google search and over 3 million websites will offer you numerous types of hair extensions, Yaki & Remy hair extensions, Russian, Chinese, Indian and European hair extensions that are supplied as French refined, silky straight, yaki curly, silky yaki, virgin kinky and water wave. Then you have to figure out which hair extension application method is best for you: micro strands, cornrow tracking, strand-by-strands, weaves, rod clamping, tree braiding, extend tubes, thermal heat, liquid fusion, adhesive bonding and…well…you get the point! And, what about the cost of hair extensions and how much you can afford? A full head of professional strands (Great Lengths) start at around $1000; cornrows are around $ 600 and though a set of clips on hair extensions are can be purchased for under $100 they are heavy, don’t stay on and can easily damage your hair.

Myth: Hair extension applications, such as weaving, heat fusion and gluing, involve covering your own hair with a chemical resulting in dry damaged hair.
Fact: While weaving and fusion can cause breakage with frequent applications, using a simple bonding technique, applied directly to the scalp or hair roots will not damage your hair if treated properly. Eternal Hair Extensions include a detailed tutorial for self-application, care and maintenance and exclusive techniques that guarantee will make them last and not damage your hair.

Myth: Hair extensions, other than the strand-by-strand (Great Lengths and Cinderella Hair), are fake looking and don’t stay in.
Fact: While the strand-by-strand method is the most natural appearing method, they are expensive, require monthly resets and tend to shed (fall out) faster than some of the other methods. Eternal Hair Extensions use a natural and safe bonding method that makes them virtually undetectable.

Myth: Hair extensions usually last for only a few months and afterwards need to be redone.
Fact: This is usually true when professionally applied, however, if hair extensions are applied yourself and properly cared for they can last for over a year.

Myth: Repeatedly using hair extensions can seriously damage hair and it is best to apply them only once.
Fact: While many application methods can result in damaged hair if not properly applied and cared for, using a bonding agent (such as the Eternal Hair Extensions) will not damage your hair because the hair extensions are removed using a gentle conditioning agent which allows the hair extensions to detach without the need to pull on the hair and can then be re-applied

Myth: Hair extensions, if worn for extended periods of time, will cause matting and serious tangling to your hair.
Fact: This can be true with certain application methods (cornrows, fusions) that are not well maintained and are improperly applied, however, the Eternal Hair Extension application method is easy to apply and, because they are re-set approximately every 3-4 shampoos (depending on the user’s hair type), there is virtually no matting, tangling or damage to your hair or scalp.